This is My Family
by PetchricorXConstellation
Summary: Wash muses on his day-to-day life with the Blood Gulch gang and a new level of friendship is earned. *Rated T just because. There will be many mistakes because I wrote this at midnight and I was really tired*


**My brother and his wife were watching _Lilo and Stitch _upstairs and I heard the line that the title and story are based off of, so I wrote this. Enjoy**

* * *

Wash sat on a rock and watched as Grif, Simmons, and Tucker all argued loudly over a game of poker they had been in the middle off. Simmons thought that Grif cheated, Grif thought Tucker cheated, and Tucker thought Simmons cheated, so now they all stood accusing each other about the same thing while each told the others that he hadn't been the one to cheat. And even though the game wasn't even halfway through they somehow managed to get the hunch that someone had been cheating, and of course no one could agree on which one it was. Big surprise.

"What in Sam-hell is going on here?!" Sarge screamed as he ran out from the base and towards the trio. As he came closer they all started to scream at once, then simply went back to arguing while Sarge joined in the chorus. Wash shook his head, glancing over his shoulder as he heard footsteps and saw that Caboose and Donut were coming over. Wash groaned and turned back to face the argument.

"What's the matter now?" Donut asked in that whiny voice of his. Wash glanced to his left to see Donut in civvies that matched the color of his day-to-day armor. His bright blonde hair was neatly combed and his bright icy blue eyes shined in the sun. Wash looked passed Donut to see Caboose standing there. He also wore civvies that same color of his armor, but his hair was a much darker blonde and was not combed in the slightest, his bright blues eyes were also darker. Wash sighed and looked back at the quartet that stood around the pile of cards.

"Simmons, Grif, and Tucker were playing a game of poker, and each one thinks that one of them cheated, then Sarge came out and tried to fix it and now he's arguing too," Wash explained. Donut nodded along with Caboose, though Wash doubted that Caboose understood his explanation in the slightest. "Well, I'm gonna go take a nap. Why don't you two go steal some of Grif oreos why he's not there to guard them?" Caboose and Donut took off for red base in a heartbeat, leaving Wash to have a few moments of peace and quiet at blue base.

The ex-Freelancer walked into the base, tore off his helmet, and tossed it onto the counter. He ran a hand through his messy brown hair and let out a sigh of content. He hadn't had time to himself for almost a month now and hadn't taken his helmet off in that time besides when he slept, and at that time he was to tired to just relax and let the sun hit his skin. He sat down at the counter and laid his arms across the counter, resting his chin on top of them and shutting his eyes for a tiny nap.

Wash was always tired now-a-days, even more so than when he was part of the project now that he thought about it. When at the project he always got up early, had training, three meals a day, a mission when the time called for it, and went to bed at a decent time. But here he wasn't so lucky. Wash's alarm clock was either Tucker and Caboose arguing, Tucker knocking on his door loudly while calling out to him, or Caboose screaming for him at the top of his lungs. Wash's rude awakenings always had him rushing his helmet on and going out to make sure that no one was strangling someone else.

The rest of the day was either hectic or uneventful, but was always filled with arguments of all kinds and Caboose asking a million questions about everything and anything. During the day not much usually happened, everyone got along now so there wasn't any fighting really. What made Wash tired was the evenings. The sun set here and when it did everyone went back to their own bases to have dinner and such. Red base could be heard with yelling and many other noises, and Blue base was no different from the other base across the small canyon.

Caboose would try to make a dinner of sorts usually, fail, and after crying for a long while Wash would finally decide that he couldn't put up with it and help him make something for dinner. On the nights Caboose didn't decide to cook Tucker did, and he would go on and on about how his mother taught him how to cook and other things that were not relevant in the slightest to what he was doing or what he had started talking about. One dinner was ready they would seat down to eat and it would either end with Caboose and Tucker arguing or Caboose asking Wash about his Freelancers days.

Normally Wash would take the arguing over the questions, but their dinner arguments were very different from their morning arguments. It could be about anything at all and they would start debating about it, then their voices would raise until they were yelling so loud you could hear it on the moon, and in the end they would be wrestling on the ground screaming insults at each other while punching and kicking as well. These fights took Wash all night to break up, then he had to settle them down, convince them both to apologize, and finally get them to bed.

By than it was usually almost eleven o'clock at night and Wash's evening was far from over. Wash would have to talk with Tucker about hitting Caboose and why, which would take about half-n-hour to and hour because of how stubborn he was. Even though it would happen again tomorrow Wash knew that if he didn't mention it at night Tucker would punch the rookie at their fight in the morning. After talking with Tucker they'd say goodnight then Wash would head off to Caboose's room, where he would find the young soldier either coloring or reading a picture book.

After a long time of trying to convince the rookie that it was time for bed Wash would finally get Caboose to agree about the lateness and Wash would step out while Caboose got into his pajamas. When Caboose was done Wash would walk back in to find Caboose laying in bed, sitting up usually and if this was the case Wash would have to convince him to lie down as well. After Caboose was fully laying in bed and had the covers up to his chin they two would share a curt 'goodnight'. Though there were nights when Caboose's bedtime didn't go as smoothly as this.

There was nights when Caboose was fidgeting and wouldn't settle down and go to sleep. On those nights Wash would usually have to tell him a bedtime story and Caboose would always request something from when he was a Freelancer, of course Wash always picked something that wasn't to intense for Caboose and that didn't bring back painful memories. When Caboose finally went to bed Wash would walk into the quiet kitchen to take some asprin. When Wash entered his room he wouldn't even take his armor off before falling into bed, the only thing removed from his person was his helmet which would fall to the floor with a _clunk_.

Wash yawned and his eyes slowly opened to stare at his helmet that lay before him on the counter-top. These people were always arguing about something, or fighting, or insulting each other for no reason, or wasting ammo, or whatever else they could find to do. Wash could tell that each one was mentally scarred in their own way, though he didn't know what it was exactly. They were all off somehow, though he didn't know how. They were all broken like he was after being in the project. Wash's eyes trailed down the counter as he thought this over and he didn't notice as Caboose and Tucker walked into the kitchen.

Both stared at the ex-Freelancer as he stared at the counter. The first thing that caught their eye was the scar going down from his right temple all the way down to his chin, it was thick and swollen. The second thing that caught their eye was his hair, it was brown with a bit of grey and very messy. Next they noticed his eyes, which were a dimmed out navy blue, it was as if his life had taken the brightness out of them and made them hazy and lifeless. And the last thing they noticed was his expression, it was obvious he was deep in thought and whatever he was thinking about must be important to him. But his expression changed as he smiled.

"This is my family," he murmured, getting both to raise their eyebrows together. "It is little and broken. But still good. Yeah, still good." Wash nodded as if he agreed with himself, but his expression fell again. He sighed a bit and his forehead slammed onto his arms with a loud _bang! _Both of his teammates jumped a bit in surprise. Wash raised his head again slightly and hit it back against his arms, he repeated this twice more before he spoke again. "Who the hell am I kidding, family? Ha, yeah right. Like anyone would want me to be a part of any family." Wash sighed again and raised his head. He jumped in surprise and looked over as Tucker laughed.

"Are you kidding? You're the only thing keeping us from each others throats!" he told him. Both of his teammates walked over and sat on either side of him. "You might be a little crazy and temper-mental, but that doesn't mean you aren't part of the team." Wash tensed as Caboose hugged him tightly.

"You're part of our family, Wash! Little and broken, but good!" Wash stared down at the grinning rookie and looked over as Tucker put a hand on his shoulder with a smile. Caboose let go but with still smiling like the idiot he was.

"You're welcome here," Tucker told him kindly. "And don't you ever forget it!" Tucker gave him a firm pat on the shoulder and retracted his hand. Wash looked over at Caboose as the rookie stilled smiled at him then looked back at Tucker. Tucker's expression fell at the look at Wash's face and Caboose felt himself go cold at how each of them looked. Caboose and Tucker shared an unsure look, but before either could say anything they were caught completely off guard as Wash began to cry.

"Agent Washingtub? Agent Washingtub what's wrong?!" Caboose said in panic. When Wash did not answer the rookie hugged him tight, worried for his friend. But he missed the smile Wash gave as he hugged Caboose tight. Tucker tilted his head confused. "Wash?" Caboose looked up as the older man gave a soft chuckle.

"I'm sorry," he said. "It's just-I've never had a family before." Both stared at him as he said this. Wash sighed. "I was an orphan all my life, adopted by a family who put me right into bootcamp the minute they got me. After bootcamp it was the military, then I was off to Project Freelancer." Both hugged their leader tight and Wash wrapped his arms around them both.

"But you're here now!" Caboose told him. "You're here with us! And your past may be bad, but you have friends now." Wash chuckled and ruffled the rookie's hair in affection. Tucker laughed a little at the action and gave a playful glare as Wash repeated the action on him as well. After very short moments the three stood up and made some dinner. As always Tucker and Caboose argued, but it never excelled passed petty insults. After a short talk with Tucker Wash went off to Caboose room to find the rookie already lying in bed.

"I must have missed another memo," Wash joked as he walked into Caboose's room. Caboose laughed a little and sat up. Wash sat on Caboose bed. "All right, you got ready all by yourself and didn't put up a fuss, what story would you like?" Wash knew Caboose's answer of course, something from his Freelancer days. But today he was more specific than he ever had been.

"What was Carolina like?" Wash felt himself go tense, and a little bit cold, as Caboose asked this question. When had he ever gotten interesting in the Freelancers themselves? And why Carolina of all people? Wash decided that it was best not to question it and simply nodded in agreement. Caboose made an excited noise and leaned forward, listening intently.

"Carolina was always very serious and was number one, she also was determined to keep it that way. She wasn't mean, she was just very intent on getting the job done and getting it done right. Oh, and she hated oranges, I only know this because I offered her one and she shoved it in my face telling me so. Needless to say, I never had an orange again." Wash smiled as Caboose laughed a little, not hearing as Tucker leaned in the doorway to listen. "Carolina loved and cared for her team, she knew each other their real names, even though she never used them, and would protect them at any costs.

"Everyone knows that Carolina and York had a thing, but Carolina never seemed to want to notice it, though I can never really figure out why. Anyway, Carolina was a very nice person and was respected. But when Tex came and took her place on the board, she snapped. Suddenly, nothing but being number one again and taking out enemies mattered. She still looked out for her team, but that didn't seem to be the most important thing for her anymore. I guess in the grand sceme of things it was just the fact that she couldn't handle it, she couldn't handle not being number one anymore.

"And it wasn't like she hurt people just so she could regain her title or anything, she just worked herself day and night until she reached her breaking point. Sadly, her breaking point came when Maine decided to become the Meta, and he came for her first," Wash told him. Caboose stared at him. "Of course all he did was take both of her AIs for his own and leave her for dead. But obviously she didn't die." Caboose gave a tiny smile. "Now, it's time for bed." Caboose nod and snuggled under the covers with a content sigh. Wash walked over to Tucker without noting about him being there and shut off the light. "Goodnight, Caboose."

"Goodnight, agent Washington," Caboose mumbled. Wash smiled as Caboose pronounced his name right and shut his door. He raised an eyebrow at Tucker in question, but neither spoke until they reached the kitchen so they didn't wake Caboose.

"I wanted to hear about Carolina, I knew that they must be more to her than what I saw," Tucker told him, watching as Wash downed the asprin. "Wait, do you take those every night?" Wash nodded and Tucker gave a slightly worried look. "Dude, that cannot be healthy." Wash shrugged and set the glass by the sink.

"I have no choice, if I don't take them I wont get to sleep. And no sleep means I can't deal with all of you guys during the day," Wash explained. Tucker narrowed his eyes in confusion, but Wash didn't notice as he grabbed his helmet from the counter. "Goodnight." Tucker didn't reply as Wash walked into his room and shut the door. There was a loud noise that he assumed was helmet meeting floor and Wash said something before all went silent. Tucker looked at the clock and his eyebrows shot upwards. It was almost 1am. Tucker looked back at his room door. Was this their fault...?

...

Wash slowly opened his eyes and gave a big yawn. He froze and looked over at the small clock beside his bed. In bright green numbers it read: 12:04. Wash lept out of bed and grabbed his helmet, tossing it on and going outside. He halted as he saw Grif and Simmons playing poker with Tucker, a few feet away from them Donut and Caboose were coloring pictures, and in the corner Sarge was passed out, drool dripping down his chin. Tucker looked up and smiled.

"Morning, Wash," he said. Everyone turned to look at him. "You went to bed late last night so we decided to let you sleep in." Wash chuckled and shook his head, deciding to join Caboose and Donut in drawing. The rest of the day passed swiftly and quietly as everyone did their own thing, Sarge soon joining in the poker game. When the sun finally set the reds parted ways and went back to their own base.

"Wash! Wash! Look!" Wash looked over as Caboose raised his drawing for him to see. Wash felt a smile creep across his lips at the drawing. It was of him, Caboose, and Tucker and they were all hugging each other. "Family portrait!" Hearing Caboose's words Tucker walked over and looked at it, he laughed a little but didn't comment. Wash followed Tucker to the kitchen as he made dinner. He smiled. A family indeed.

* * *

**And that's that. WEll, I'm off to bed.**

**Thanks for reading, please review, and have a bow chicka bow wow day  
Perla; and may it be the best day ever, of all time  
**


End file.
